PAC will ‘challenge’ Middle Atlantic in football in 2010-11

WEXFORD, Pa. — The Presidents’ Athletic Conference announced on Wednesday a series of games between its member schools and teams in the Middle Atlantic Conferences during the 2010 and 2011 college football seasons.

The “PAC-MAC Football Challenge Series” will take place during the second weekend. Pairings were determined by matching how teams finished in the 2009 standings.

Thomas More of the PAC will not participate due to travel considerations.

The MAC is an umbrella organization of three conferences — Commonwealth, Freedom, and Middle Atlantic, which includes 16 schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

“We are very excited to see our plans for the PAC-MAC Football Challenge Series come to fruition after several years of planning,” said PAC executive director Joe Onderko. “Our schools know that the MAC is an excellent football conference and will provide our programs with very stiff competition, while also giving our schools the opportunity to become more visible in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We look forward to the challenge on the field next fall.”

The 2010 games, scheduled for Sept. 11, will be Washington & Jefferson at Delaware Valley; Geneva at Albright; Grove City at Lebanon Valley; Waynesburg at Wilkes; Westminster at Lycoming; Bethany at King’s; Thiel at Widener, and Saint Vincent at FDU-Florham.

The teams will play again on Sept. 10, 2010, at PAC home sites.

“Although most of the MAC and PAC schools are in Pennsylvania, we have had very few opportunities to compete against each other in football,” said Ken Andrews, MAC executive director. “Each conference has had significant success at the national level so this ‘challenge’ should have a bearing on the regional rankings — the PAC in the South and the MAC in the East.”